On the Death of Ronald
Reaganby The Glorious Revolutionary
Federation of Fortune 500 Killerswww.dissidentvoice.org
June 7, 2004

The
Glorious Revolutionary Federation of Fortune 500 Killers celebrates the
death of Ronald Reagan, a foul specimen whose demise, had it come two
decades sooner, might have spared the world much subsequent decline. On the
international front, Reagan's funding of homicidal dictators in third-world
countries under the "anti-communist" shroud led to the deaths of
tens-of-thousands. His investment in redundant and obsolete Pentagon
technology, coupled with his tax cuts for the ruling class and
petit-bourgeois, resulted in mammoth deficits with little improvement in
most day-to-day American lives to show for them.

Within United States
borders, his racism rendered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a
joke. His infamous demonization of the "welfare queen" ignored the fact that
most people on welfare rolls, even while working, could not make enough
money to fall above the poverty line.

Reagan's capitulation
to far-right vulgar religious fanatics gave honorable progressive
theologians a bad name, and it had disastrous effects in the environmental
and public health arenas. Asked why he gutted so many environmental
regulations, Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior responded: “We don't
have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand.” Fearful of
the political capital he would lose if he issued any public statements about
the epidemic, Reagan remained quiet about AIDS until 1987. Meanwhile,
far-right religious fanatics in his Administration and within his party
sought to stifle public comment at every possible turn, so fearful were they
of accidentally generating any sympathy for gay and lesbian rights.

The
Federation leadership vomited copiously as it watched the stream of
television obituaries to this monster. John “I Committed War Crimes and am
Tough on Terror Too” Kerry remarked that “Americans will bow their heads in
prayer and gratitude that President Reagan left such an indelible stamp on
the nation he loved,” confirming again the spineless nature of his
candidacy. As happened with another scoundrel, Richard Nixon, the American
public will be subjected to hours of trite speeches singing the praises of
this thoroughly rotten human being. In protest, the Federation calls for a
one-month celebration of Reagan's death and more public education about his
disastrous legacy. It is this legacy of racism, homophobia, bigotry, and
militarism, rather than the death of one man, that deserves our attention,
for it continues to ravage justice and democracy on a daily basis worldwide.